1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing structure for a high-pressure container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is attracting attention as clean energy which helps reduce global warming and expected to find expanded use as gasoline-alternative fuel for automobiles and the like. However, since gases have lower density than liquids and solids, to carry a larger amount of fuel, the volume of gas has to be reduced by high pressure. Consequently, a high-pressure container is required in order to contain the high-pressure gas. Conventionally, high-pressure containers made of steel or aluminum alloy have generally been used as high-pressure CNG containers. High-pressure containers made of metal provide the advantages of having high strength and high reliability in leakage resistance, but have the problem of heavy weight, resulting in penalties in terms of fuel economy and driving performance when the containers are used in automobiles.
In view of the above problem, to reduce container weight, a multilayer pressure container has recently been proposed in Japanese Patent No. 3523802, the multilayer pressure container being constructed by covering a thin wall container (liner) made of metal or synthetic resin with a resin-impregnated fiber-reinforced layer and subsequently curing the impregnating resin.
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 2 of Japanese Patent No. 3523802, construction of a high-pressure container involves forming a synthetic resin liner integrally with a mouthpiece, covering the synthetic resin liner with a prepreg sheet of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) layer, and subsequently curing the prepreg sheet. In this case, if a leak path is found after the curing, it is not possible to repair the leak path once the resin has cured. This may result in decreased manufacturing yields.
An object of the present invention is to provide a sealing structure for a high-pressure container which allows sealing measures to be phased in during assembly before curing.